Some regulatory health bodies in the UK are recommending widespread use of a weight-loss injection using the drug semaglutide – after a study found those on the treatment lost, on average, almost 15% of their body mass.
Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the weight loss injection for use in the UK by the National Health Service (NHS).
While other UK regulatory bodies have yet to fully approve the treatment, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also approved the treatment last year.
The drug semaglutide (brand name Wegovy) ‘mimics the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) which the body releases after eating,’ explained medicalnewstoday.com. The treatment ‘makes people feel fulle’, so they do not get so hungry and eat less’.
In a 2021 trial, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, 1961 adults with a BMI over 30 (mean 37.9) were allocated in a 2:1 ratio to treatment with semaglutide or placebo.
The treatment group self-administered weekly injections of 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide; the control group received the placebo the same way.
The trial was double blind – neither participants nor researchers knew which group each other was in.
All participants also followed a reduced calorie diet, increased their physical activity and received counselling sessions every 4 weeks to help them maintain the lifestyle changes.
Treatment group participants lost, on average, 14.9% of their body mass over 68 weeks of the trial. Those receiving the placebo reduced their weight by 2.4% on average.
In the UK, NICE recommends specialists prescribe semaglutide for people who have a BMI more than 35, and at least one weight- related health condition, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes or coronary heart disease.
NICE also notes a specialist ‘must prescribe the drug as part of a weight-management program and for a maximum of 2 years’. AMP
